Cop faces 3 more charges in drug bust
Inquiry reveals fresh evidence of officer’s ‘egregious’ conduct’
The ongoing criminal investigation into the “egregious conduct” of four Toronto officers accused of planting heroin on a car dashboard then providing false testimony in court has uncovered fresh evidence against one of the officers, who now faces three new criminal charges in connection to a separate arrest of the same alleged victim.
On Wednesday, Toronto police Const. Benjamin Elliot, 33, was charged with one new count of perjury and two additional charges of obstruct justice stemming from the arrest of Toronto man Nguyen Son Tran.
Elliot, a nine-year member of the force, is one of four officers already embroiled in a rare criminal case that made headlines earlier this year.
At a sombre news conference in January, police chief Mark Saunders an- nounced Elliot and three others officers were facing a slew of perjury and obstruct justice charges following a finding from a Toronto judge that they planted heroin in Tran’s car to justify a search, then “colluded” in their testimony in court.
Saunders said a team from Toronto police Professional Standards and the Crown Attorney’s office would continue to investigate the officers’ previous cases. Wednesday’s charges appear to be a result of that probe.
Elliot’s new perjury and obstruct justice charges relate to a separate arrest of Tran one year before the alleged heroin plant — a January 2013 arrest that ultimately resulted in Tran being convicted of one count of possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking. He was sentenced to 30 months in jail. Kim Schofield, Tran’s lawyer, is now seeking leave to appeal that conviction on the additional evidence of officer misconduct.
“My client was sentenced to almost three years in jail as a result of something they now know did not happen in the way that this cop testified that it happened,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
“This has long-standing legal ramifications, because we have an allegation that this cop perjured himself to obtain a conviction.” Toronto police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray said she could not comment on the new charges against Elliot because the case is ongoing.
The initial investigation into the conduct of the four officers was triggered by scathing remarks by a judge at Tran’s September 2015 trial on drug charges resulting from his January 2014 arrest.
Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan criticized the four arresting officers — Elliott and Const. Jeffrey Tout, Det.-Const. Fraser Douglas and Const. Michael Taylor — for each presenting a different version of the events of a traffic stop, when they pulled Tran over for allegedly running a red light near Broadview Ave. and Gerrard St. E.
The officers said Tran, who is in his mid-50s, had loose heroin powder on the dashboard of his Toyota, which led them to launch a search of the car, leading the officers to find 11grams of heroin wrapped in plastic and concealed behind the steering column.
But none of the officers could explain why Tran had loose heroin in the car, or why he didn’t wipe it away when he was pulled over.
Morgan found that the heroin ultimately found on the dashboard by a forensic officer was in fact put there by police, and not left there by Tran. The search that found the 11 grams of heroin behind Tran’s steering column was therefore not authorized.
Morgan tossed the drugs as evidence and stayed the drug charges against Tran.
“Here, the false creation of a pretext to search (Tran’s) vehicle, combined with the collusive fabrication of a story by the two lead officers as to why they came to assist in the traffic stop . . . certainly amounts to egregiously wrongful conduct,” Morgan wrote. Schofield, Tran’s lawyer, has previously described her client as an immigrant from Vietnam who uses a wheelchair or specialized crutches due to partial paralysis. He is a vulnerable person who has been an “easy target” for officers in the past, she said.
The new charges against Elliot seem to be a validation of her earlier attempt to challenge the officer’s credibility in connection to the January 2013 case, which resulted in Tran being charged with possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking.
Court documents show Schofield urged the judge in that case, Justice Leslie Chapin, to find the officers were lying in part of their evidence.
The grounds for Tran’s arrest in that 2013 case were mostly derived from a confidential informant, and Schofield had attempted to obtain more disclosure from the Crown about the informant, to get evidence that could show inconsistencies in the officer testimony.
But Chapin ruled against Schofield receiving more information about the informant, and Tran ultimately pleaded guilty to possession of heroin in that case. Last month, Schofield filed notice of appeal to have that conviction quashed and an acquittal entered.
“The fresh evidence of misconduct establishes a shocking level of demonstrably improper police conduct and affords strong evidence of a willingness on the part of (Const.) Elliot to travel to improper lengths to obtain evidence and a conviction,” she writes in the appeal.
Elliot is also facing six counts of misconduct under the Police Services Act in connection to his criminal charges related to the 2014 arrest, including “wilfully or negligently make a false, misleading or inaccurate statement pertaining to official duties,” according to tribunal documents.
Elliot now faces a total of 10 charges of perjury and obstruct justice. He is due in court to face the new charges Thursday.
All four officers connected to the case are suspended with pay.
Schofield says she’s pleased the internal investigation into the officers’ conduct has been done in earnest.
“The bright light here is that Chief Saunders appears to be a man of his word, because he said that the officers’ activities would be investigated. I treated that statement with considerable skepticism, but here we are.” Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca